11. Thirteen Deaths In

Ianto groaned as he stretched and swore softly at the bite he felt in his shoulder.

Today was the day.

He strode into the hub and made the coffee, slipping the piece of paper with the name on it under Jack's mug.

He got a bit antsy while he waited and was relieved when Jack came down the stairs and stood staring at him, then slowly approached.

"Ianto? Can I see you in my office please?" Jack asked.

"Yes Sir" Ianto followed and closed the door as he entered, then folded into a chair.

"Ianto, where did you get this name?"

"You gave it to me sir" Ianto said calmly.

"Care to explain?" Jack leaned back and gave his trademark grin that Ianto recognised as fear.

"I am in a time-loop. I appear to be the only one affected and I finally got to the stage where you were able to give me that name." Ianto informed him, "It's your academy entrance name. The one you gave John, your Time Agency Partner as a key if you were ever in a situation like this."

"You know a lot" Jack muttered with narrowed eyes.

"Sir, I cannot tell you … timey-wimey …. Ya know? But you and I … er … we're close. Closer than you were with him." Ianto sighed.

Jack raised his eyebrows as he grinned, "How close?"

"I know how you got that scar on your right knee" Ianto said and Jack snorted with mirth.

"My goodness, I didn't show you, did I?"

"Actually, you described the position and I did it. You said it was a triumph of shared knowledge." Ianto smiled softly and Jack was taken with the transformation.

"I believe you" he said as he rose. "What do you need?"

"To not die would be good, I reset after each death" Ianto then hastened to add, "Not like you. I go back in time to the same point. Not a resurrection style one."

"Jesus, you're not kidding" Jack huffed with a grimace. "You do know a lot."

"Yeah. I've managed to get as far as … er … let's say several days but it always ends the same."

"Well, we'll have to remedy that. Can you remember the last time before your original reset?" Jack asked as he started to make notes.

"No, I mean it's hazy. It's weird, on the day, I see what is about to happen. But not further than the next day. Any further is like looking through Vaseline covered glass" Ianto shrugged.

"Time locks can be like that. Fuzzy around the edges" Jack smiled. "So we are really … er…."

"Jack, you are not the man I love just yet" Ianto said and watched Jack's eyes widen.

"Really? You love future me?"

"More than the air that I breathe!"

Jack preened happily.

"I do miss your smell" Ianto admitted, "I don't sleep as well, not that I can really sleep."

Jack motioned towards the manhole, "Go sleep now. I'll think about how to fix this."

Ianto slid into the familiar bed and relaxed, letting himself float in the heady smell of Jack the man!

"I've had an idea" Jack startled him awake and Ianto blearily looked up at him as he sat on the foot of the bed.

"We place you in the freezer, pull you out once a month until we're past whatever the initial crisis was" Jack grinned and Ianto rewarded him by surging up the bed and kissing him.

Jack let himself get dragged into the bedding and his last coherent thought before the blood loss from his brain rendered him mush was that this Ianto Jones was definitely hiding himself under a bushel.